


Married, Gay, or Robot

by Tarlan



Category: Eureka (TV)
Genre: Community: smallfandomfest, Community: trope_bingo, First Time, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-07-27 14:21:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7621798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack ends up locked in a laboratory with Nathan, and discovers Jo may be right about the men of Eureka after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Married, Gay, or Robot

**Author's Note:**

> Written for:  
> \- **smallfandomfest** FEST19  
>  \- **trope_bingo** 7 prompt: marriage

"No! Don't let it... close." 

Jack sighed as he heard the lock click into place, staring balefully at a confused Nathan Stark as he slumped back against the wall where'd he'd been sitting. He watched as Stark turned and tried the door unsuccessfully.

"Huh!" Stark uttered, and Jack rolled his eyes, aware he was being childish by pushing his annoyance onto Stark but he'd been trapped in this damn lab for over two hours due to his own stupidity, eventually forced to sit down and wait for rescue.

Even more stupidly, he had given Andy the night off to do a full maintenance back-up or something like that, and told SARAH and Zoe not to expect him home until much, much later. In the warm laboratory he'd started to doze off. Perhaps if he'd moved around a little more to keep himself awake then he might not have been caught napping when Stark walked in. As it was he was just too slow to warn the other man and now they were both trapped in here. At least there was more of a chance of someone looking for them now he had the Director of Global Dynamics trapped in the lab with him too because he doubted anyone would notice their sheriff was missing for another 3-4 hours, or more if SARAH decided to consider his absence as intentional and got mad at him... again.

"Well, at least someone's bound to notice _you_ missing," Jack said out loud only to catch a slight wince crossing Stark's face. "Please tell me someone is going to notice you missing."

"Someone's going to notice I'm missing... eventually," Stark added after a long pause.

Jack dropped his head into his hands. "I don't believe this. Not only am I stuck in this damn lab but now I'm trapped here with you." Jack shook his head before raising his head and narrowing his eyes. "And why are you here anyway?"

Stark opened his mouth to reply then thought better of whatever words he'd planned on saying. He sighed.

"I was about to head out when I saw you on the security monitor." He shrugged and mumbled quickly, "I thought you were planning a tryst."

"Thought I was... what?"

Stark straightened, looming over him menacingly - or Jack assumed Stark thought he was being menacing. "More to the point. What are you doing here, Carter?"

"I... saw a mouse."

"A mouse?"

"Yeah, well, before she disappeared Thorne redacted the poop guy who usually deals with this kind of small animal problem. I would have called Taggart but..."

"There's no cell signal in Section 4." Stark smirked. He swayed a little, obviously enjoying Jack's discomfort. "So you thought you'd go mouse hunting on your own."

Jack felt both embarrassed and annoyed because he should have been back at the station hours ago, not running around Global Dynamics in the middle of the night chasing mice. He'd been at a loose end since the stupid time loop thing where Allison made it perfectly clear she was still in love with Stark and planned to marry him. It didn't matter she had no memory of that conversation as it had happened in an earlier loop. The fact remained she wasn't in love with him, seeing him as a friend only. Worse, once he had accepted the truth about their non-romantic relationship status he'd actually felt relieved rather than depressed, though still annoyed because she was going to go ahead and marry Stark.

That was when his Epiphany struck so hard it almost knocked him off his feet. Oh he'd tried to explain it away to himself as not wanting someone he cared for deeply marrying such an asshole, but being the ex-husband of a psychologist had its downside. Abby could have given Beverly a run for her money, and he could hear Abby's voice in his head talking of hidden desires, displacement, reaction formation, sublimation, and other big words she hurled at him towards the end of their broken-down marriage. All of it meaningless until he realized he'd projected all his feelings of love onto Allison and the opposite - dislike - onto Stark when it was actually Nathan who got him hot and bothered. Nathan Stark, multi-doctorate, egotistical maniac who looked down on him like he was the village idiot. The same Nathan Stark who came out of the time loop lucky to still be alive and not barbecued to a crisp like Weinbrenner, and who immediately went and canceled the wedding for who knows what reason. That was several months ago and Allison had been devastated. She left Eureka to take over as Director of Area 51 barely a week later, leaving Jack wondering exactly where he stood with Stark now the apex of their supposed love triangle was gone. He was still wondering because not a lot seemed to have changed between them. They still hurled insults at each other on a regular basis but there was definitely something different, something more playful rather than malicious. With anyone else he would have called it flirtatious which, yeah, was a big word but he was average in intelligence, not stupid.

"And did you catch it?" Stark asked airily, bringing his thoughts straight back to his current predicament.

"Yeah," he bristled, drawing out the word, affronted by the insinuation he couldn't even catch a mouse.

Jack pointed across the lab to the strange colander device on the bench that he'd used as a makeshift cage. He watched in annoyance as Stark wandered over to take a look, poking at it just to make the mouse run around, that smirk still firmly in place.

"I shut the door to stop it escaping back into the corridor," he explained. "How was I supposed to know it wouldn't open from this side?" The smirk grew larger, and Jack felt his arousal grow too, making him even angrier because he wasn't supposed to fall in love with that egotistical bastard. "Oh, don't give me that look, Stark. You didn't know either or we _both_ wouldn't be trapped here now."

Score one, Jack thought as he saw the smirk deflate a little. "Touche"

"Yeah, and what's that supposed to mean anyway?"

"It means..." Stark shook his head. "Never mind. We've got more important things to worry over than semantics." He pulled out his computer tablet and poked at it a few times, sighing in mild annoyance before putting it back into his pocket without even trying any harder.

"Isn't that supposed to work anywhere inside Global?"

"Apparently not." Stark indicated towards the laboratory. "Section 4," he stated, as if that explained everything, before adding, "This lab must be shielded. I guess we'll just have to sit here and wait for rescue." 

Jack couldn't think of anything to say as Stark sat down with his back against the wall right next to him, his expensive suit-clad shoulder pressing against Jack's and sending another unwanted wave of desire rushing through him. Oh, this was so not good. Jack adjusted his position, dropping his hands onto his lap so he could hide his obvious state of arousal should Stark just happen to glance into his lap. Not that any straight guy would check out another guy's package, and Jack had it on good authority that despite the expensive clothes, daily workouts, perfect hair, and neatly trimmed beard, Stark was as straight as they come. By 'good authority' he meant Jo, who admittedly believed guys fell into one of three categories: married, gay, or robot.

She was still trying to figure out which category Donovan came under despite Donovan using Jack's credit card fraudulently to buy her racy lingerie.

The silence stretched between them but Jack could feel Stark's warmth seeping through the layers of clothing where they were seated shoulder to shoulder, and he adjusted his position in an attempt to ease the tightness of his pants.

"Problem, Sheriff?" Stark asked mildly.

Jack made the mistake of glancing at him in confusion, only to see Stark raise his eyebrows and pointedly look down. The heat rushing through Jack, warming his face was most definitely embarrassment and his brain went into overdrive trying to find a valid explanation for why he had an obvious erection.

"I was thinking of Allison," he blurted out.

A dark expression chased across Stark's face for a moment before smoothing out; the smirk back in place and he replied nonchalantly, "No you weren't."

"What? Now you can read minds too?"

"You haven't thought about Allison since the time loops. Or any other women acccord-."

Shock rippled through Jack.

"Wha...? How would you...? She is so grounded," he murmured, mortified, because Zoe was the only person who knew he no longer had a thing for Allison, having used some of her mother's annoying psychobabble techniques for getting him to spill. She must have said something to Vince, who likely blabbed about it to the whole town. It was bad enough Zoe now knew he was attracted to guys as well as women, though he was grateful he'd managed to escape before he revealed it was Stark who had replaced Allison in his fantasies; his kid didn't need to know he was harboring lustful thoughts for the bane of his existence.

"I have it on good authority I'm your dream guy," Stark continued smugly, and Jack didn't think he could feel more mortified than at that moment.

"You need a reality check, Stark," he sent back but the bastard merely smirked at him even harder, and Jack wished he could wipe the grin off his handsome face.

Jack blinked in shock as he drew back, lips still tingling, trying to figure out what possessed him to wipe that smirk off with a kiss rather than a punch. He'd succeeded as the smirk was gone, except Stark - Nathan was still smiling, green eyes darkened and sparkling with pleasure. He wasn't sure who made the next move or if both of them leaned in but he could feel the slight scratchiness of Nathan's beard as they kissed again, a sensation of falling only ending when he realized he was flat on his back with Nathan on top, still kissing him almost senseless. The shock of a warm hand wrapping round his hard cock was his last coherent thought as months of pent-up frustration found a glorious release.

When he finally came back to his senses Nathan was along his side, having lost his expensive jacket at some point. He was propped up on one strong, muscular forearm, looking down on Jack fondly. His hair was no longer so immaculate, mussed from Jack's fingers; his expensive white dress shirt was creased all over, his blue silk tie hanging loose and skewed... and he had never looked more gorgeous to Jack. It was weird... even by Eureka standards. Insanely, his thoughts drifted from Nathan to Jo and her declaration about the men of Eureka. Nathan wasn't married, though it had been a close call just a few months back, and though Jack had had his doubts on occasion, he now had positive proof Nathan was not a robot. The same was true for him too, so maybe Jo was right after all.

Not married. Not a robot, and that left only one other option.

It took a moment longer for Jack to notice Nathan was still hard, but when he went to reciprocate Nathan's strong fingers wrapped around his hand and stopped him. Jack froze, confused and maybe a little hurt, until Nathan leaned in and murmured, "I want you, Jack... but not here."

Jack bowed his head a little bashfully, that final niggle of fear evaporating as Nathan nuzzled at his throat. "Then I guess you're in for a long wait."

"Am I?"

The click of the door lock startled Jack and he almost wrenched something in an attempt to put even a modest amount of distance between him and Nathan before someone caught them together, only to stop when Nathan remained unruffled. When no one called out or entered Jack narrowed his eyes, looking hard at Nathan when he noticed the tablet was back in his hands. Nathan had a smug expression, and everything fell into place.

"You locked me in here," he accused Nathan.

"Busted," he replied softly, but the quickly building fire of self-righteous indignation died abruptly when Jack saw the apprehension almost hidden behind the smirk.

Nathan had taken a gamble based on the hearsay of others, making the most of an opportunity that presented itself when Jack went mouse hunting alone. It was an insanely clever plan likely made on the spur of the moment, but Jack expected nothing less from a man who boasted several doctorates and a Nobel Award. Plus Jack wasn't the one with blue balls right now so that counted for a lot. Standing up, Jack made sure he was properly tucked away and zipped up.

"I hope you have clean sheets," he demanded gruffly, letting his words seep in before extending a hand to Nathan.

Nathan visibly relaxed, the smirk fading to a relieved smile as he accepted Jack's assistance to his feet.

"Several sets," he replied smugly, both eyebrows rising suggestively.

Jack was still smiling many hours later; happy, sated, and pleasantly aching as he lay in the arms of his equally happy, satisfied, and dozing lover.

Not married... and definitely not a robot, he decided as he drifted into a contented sleep, only to bolt upright moments later. He'd forgotten all about the mouse!

END  
 


End file.
